Policemen “waste” bullets on suspected militants in Lagos gun battle
Ewedogbon, a riverine community in Igando-Ikotun Local Council Development Area of Lagos, was turned into a battle field of sorts on Tuesday.
Policemen and some members of the Oodu’a Peoples Congress (OPC) engaged men suspected to be Niger Delta militants in a gun battle which lasted for hours.
Soldiers, reports say, joined the party at some point.
The militants arrived the community around 3:00 a.m on Tuesday to return a young lady they kidnapped on Sunday, a resident said.
Another resident told The Cable that the militants “came out of the end of our street”.
“Immediately, we ran inside, and we started hearing gunshots. From inside, we were seeing what was happening.
“They saw another bike man, and as he tried to escape, they attacked him with machetes, and used his bike to move round the community.
“They were singing in their language.
“The militants broke into the shop of a woman, packed her things. They took bread, can drinks, recharge cards and so many things. We were seeing them from the place; we were inside our compound – a one-storeyed building.
“Not up to 30 minutes, they reinforced and they were up to 40 this time around. They kept shooting and going round, and some of us called the police and when the policemen arrived, they challenged them. One OPC member in this area also joined the officers to engage them.
“The shooting lasted for over an hour. They were targeting the OPC man but their bullets could not penetrate his body.
“Most of the policemen took cover, except an officer who was also prepared for battle. The policeman kept firing back at them but when he realised that the bullet was not affecting them, he stopped shooting.”
The militants reportedly left the community for a while only to return later.
The shooting continued after the return but soldiers had joined the policemen at the time.
The militants were eventually forced to “retreat and escape through the waterways”, a statement from the Lagoso police spokesperson, SP Dolapo Badmos said.
“No single death was recorded on the side of the Police and residents alike,” it added.
Another resident of the community however told NewsroomNG that two policemen were critically injured in the incident.
Badmos, who did not mention any injuries, also said a “massive deployment of personnel from all the operational departments of the command will continually be maintained in the area and the entire state”.
She expressed gratitude to the members of the community whose security consciousness and alertness has contributed a great deal in foiling the attack as it remains resolute in ending the activities of the militants.
Ewedogbon community is a few kilometres from Iba whose monarch was abducted by suspected militants recently.
The militants who killed the king’s orderly and shot his wife have contacted his family asking for N500 million ransom..
